Book review

Trouble is brewing in Ystrad. It is time to defend jobs, the pits, and a way of life that has formed both the life of valley and the nation. The union is squaring up to the Coal Board, the government, and the country. Gwyn Pritchard, overman at Blackthorn colliery, believes that the way to save his pit is to keep his men working and production high. His men disagree and when an old collier dies on Gwyn’s shift, the men’s simmering resentment spills over into open defiance. But Gwyn faces a challenge at home too. His daughter Helen is in love with a fiery young collier, Scrapper Jones. In March 1984, when miners across the country walk out to join what will become a year-long strike, Scrapper throws himself into the struggle and Helen joins the women, preparing food for the soup kitchen and standing with the men on the picket line. Scrapper, Helen, and Gwyn must decide which side they are on as the dispute drives the Pritchard family apart and the Jones family to ruin. What matters most—to be right, to be loved or to belong?